His hand tightened around his mother’s fingers.

That was when the woman stood.

She wasn’t tall.

She wasn’t intimidating.

She was just a tired mother in a gray sweatshirt and jeans, placing herself between her son and a furious man much bigger than her.

Tears filled her eyes.

Then she said the words that silenced everyone around us.

“My son cannot see the game.”

PART 2

Her voice wasn’t loud.

But in that sudden quiet, everyone heard her.

The man blinked.

Before he could respond, she continued.

“He lost most of his vision three months ago. He has surgery tomorrow morning at six-thirty. The doctors don’t know if it will work.”

The entire section grew still.

She put one hand on her son’s shoulder.

“They don’t know if this is his last night in darkness or the beginning of the rest of his life.”

My throat tightened.